Tel Aviv Stocks Open Slightly Down in Mixed Trading

Most of the indices on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange posted modest losses at the start of trading on Monday. The TA Composite index stood at 969.82, down .13 percent from Sunday's close, while the TA 100 slipped .15 percent to 979.96, including a .14 percent decline to 1,071.33 by the Maof 25 most-widely-invested issues. The 50 stocks outside the TA 100 rose .05 percent to 340.29.

The bright spot in the early minutes of trading was the biomed index, which rose .16 percent to 714.77, while the rest of the technology issues stood at 294.73 down .08 percent. The same drop meant an opening posting of 920.22 for the bank stocks, as the financial institutions declined .39 percent to 845.70, including a .78 percent decline to 954.46 by the insurance index. The oil and gas issues stood at 1,159.11, down .36 percent, while the real-estate stocks declined .39 percent to 272.88 and the communications index stood at 645.38, down .77 percent.